CHEd chief faces another complaint before Ombudsman for non-remittance of scholarship benefits

CHEd Chairman Prospero “Popy” De Vera

MANILA, Philippines: Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chairman Prospero “Popoy” De Vera 3rd faces another complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman on the alleged unaccounted P10.3 billion higher educational development fund allocated for the free tuition and living allowance of government scholars as provided under Republic Act (RA) 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

Ten Menitobong tribal student scholars from South Cotabato filed the formal complaint against De Vera for alleged “negligence of duties and responsibilities as public official, violation of Republic Act 11032 or Ease of Doing Business, grave abuse of power and authority amounting to unfair and oppressive actions, and moral injury to students and educational institutions.”

“… we strongly assert that the concerned government agencies, specifically the Commission on Higher Education under the chairmanship of Mr. Prospero De Vera III shall be held liable for his utter failure to provide and release to us (student scholars) our living allowances for the period covering SY 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024,” the student scholars said in a four-page joint affidavit-complaint filed on Monday, April 15.

“Days, weeks, months and years have passed but still we and other student-grantees have not received our aforementioned living allowances which made us dismayed and affected our studies… our parents definitely have no financial capacity to spend,” it added.

Complainants also called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the leadership of both Houses of Congress to take the appropriate action against De Vera’s inaction on their pleas even as appropriate funding for government scholars have been provided by Congress.

“We are, therefore, bringing the aforestated matter to the attention of the national government and Congress of the Philippines to take appropriate action on the non-implementation of the pertinent provisions of RA 10931, specifically the living allowance intended to be given to entitled scholar-grantees which we firmly believe that there was already an appropriation of funds therefor,” the joint affidavit complaint read.

Under RA 10931, a student-scholar is entitled to free tuition and other school fees subsidy, including a P20,000 living allowance per semester for every student-scholar.

On tertiary education subsidy (TES), RA 10931 provides that it shall be administered by the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education or UniFAST, which is in charge of implementing RA 10931 to ensure that all eligible Filipinos get access to adequate and equitable education.

Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza said P10.3 billion was allocated to the CHED as part of the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF). The fund came from the earnings of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and travel tax.

“Those are earmarked funds by law and cannot be used outside of its specified purpose,” Daza said.

“I am really disappointed with CHEd. The President probably should order an internal review of the CHEd’s performance, the attrition rate, drop out rate of Filipino students,” Daza said as he expressed dismay on reports that drop out rate is at 30 to 40 percent a year or only 60 students were able to graduate out of 100 who enrolled.

“You have P10 billion but you don’t use it, I suspect there is a hidden agenda, That should be reviewed and investigated by the Commission on Audit and Malacanang,” the lawmaker said.

The 10 student-complainants would all be graduating in 2025. Three of them were taking up bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education, two are in tourism management, while the five others are studying information technology, criminology, social work, English and business administration.

They expressed frustration over CHED’s inaction, and also feared the possibility that they might drop out of school in their graduating year.